...are we going to stop calling Landry "energy off the bench" and acknowledge him as "the best player on the Rockets"? It's so glaringly obvious that he is. He leads the team in TS%, second in usage rate to Brooks, leads the team in win shares with 2.6 while being only 5th in minutes, leads the team in blocked shot rate, leads the team in offensive rating, and of course leads the team in PER by a wide margin (16th in the entire league, 5th for his position). You can't really say the whole "he plays against second units" because he gets starter minutes and finishes games and often is our ace in the hole during 4th quarters. I'm not saying he should start, but just give the man his due.
Hey, I'll cop to it right now! Love Landry. The man laughs off bullets and grabs another offensive rebound.
By far? dunno man, Landry is a pretty darn nice player to me. Brooks is super skilled, just very undersized and quite mistake prone.
I always knew this guy was a beast. I love his personality too. I think deep down inside we all know he's good, but in my opinion, I think it's good that he comes off the bench to make him seem undervalued. I hope he doesn't get much attention so no one will want him. Is that wrong? I just want him to be the Rockets secret weapon.
Oh yes - SO glaringly obvious..... Landry is playing well, but you can't just pick 5 categories that he leads the team in and suggest that makes him the best player on the team He's certainly an integral part of our offense, but I don't think he's our best player. And I think that's glaringly obvious.
A lot of those stats are often considered the best "all-encompassing" statistics like PER and winshares. I'm not saying they're the end all be all stats but when you lead it by such a wide margin, it cannot be brushed away. Who do you suggest is better than Landry on the Rockets right now?
This years Rockets do not possess a "best player." Instead, they are a team in the fullest meaning of the word. Probably on the current active roster there is no one who believes he is the best player. And, there is probably no one on the team who wants that designation.
i'd say brooks. stopping him is probably the #1 priority on the opponent's defensive gameplan on any given night.
I love Landry but heck no would I rate him as clear and away the best player. He still needs improvement in a few key areas. Namely, dribbling and rebounding, which while he has improved over last year, he still scares me when he puts the ball on floor worst then Yao and his rebounding still leaves a bit to be desired, compared to Hayes or Scola. Real talk, he is a great player but still has ways to go before he can be considered better then everyone.
Brooks is inconsistent as far as offense goes. Sometimes he has a good night, sometimes he has a bad night. Landry has consistently put up 20 ppg this season. Brooks needs to learn to think better on his feet. It gets old seeing him jump in the air with no one to pass to which then creates a turnover.
yeah, but also consider what it means to be the first offensive option, like brooks tends to be. it means that the opposing team puts together its defensive gameplan to take away what you like to do, and what gets your team in a good rhythm. this season i have seen opposing defenses pay a lot of attention to brooks. landry is consistent and productive and has been playing very well, don't get me wrong. i just can't really say I think other teams stay up at night worried about him the way they worry about containing brooks. does that make brooks better? not really, but probably makes him more important for the rockets success this season.
But he does provide alot of energy off the bench... At what point can we stop calling him that? When he starts, or has no energy.
Landry's gotten more 4th quarter minutes than any other Rocket, I believe. That's a pretty good indicator of what Adelman thinks of him.
Landry needs to control his fouling. Thats my only beef with him. Everything else is average to above average for NBA starter.
In no way is "energy off the bench" a detriment to his role on the team. Jason Terry is considered an "energy off the bench" guy and he lights us up almost every time he faces us.
